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A Court of Wings and Ruin

Review

Sarah J. Maas, the New York Times bestselling author of THRONE OF GLASS, has delivered the third and final installment to the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN.

Feyre Cursebreaker has willingly returned to Spring Court, a place containing only the torments of her past, to learn about Tamlin and evil King Hybern’s plans on the invasion of Prythian. In order to protect her beloved friends at the Night Court, she is forced to keep on a mask, lying to anyone and everyone about her motives, beliefs and actions. Despite her efforts, keeping up her web of lies is harder than it seems, and determining who to trust proves to be an even more difficult task. After saving his life, Feyre is forced to trust her former friend, Lucien, as they flee back home, encountering various new rivals along the way. No matter what they do to prevent it, war is coming, and Feyre and her court aren’t ready to give up their home without a fight.

"Fluent and breathtaking, Maas’ writing captured me instantly, with magical and vivid descriptions of the lands of the fey, and interactions between characters."

Fluent and breathtaking, Maas’ writing captured me instantly, with magical and vivid descriptions of the lands of the fey, and interactions between characters. After the beautiful writing style throughout her other works, I expected the same greatness in A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN, and I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. Despite the clear fantasy of this story, her descriptions left me feeling as if I was actually in this world, surrounded by the beauty and horror of the courts in war. Besides that, the dialogue in this book is astounding, as the fey’s signature is to weave words into pleasant promises and praises, with subtle threats hidden below the words that are sweet as candy. It’s enchanting, allowing readers like me to fully experience and understand the backlash and power of every word the characters say.

The characters in this book are each influential and unique, bringing constant surprises to the story. Although this is the third book in this trilogy, each character revealed new sides to their personality, while disclosing hidden parts of their backstory that had remained mysteries for the majority of the series. Feyre and Rhys’ inner circle, including Amren, Mor, Cassian and Azriel, have a beautiful family dynamic, and I loved each person’s individual contribution to the story. Besides the main characters, several characters that were previously mentioned earlier in the series become more developed, which I absolutely loved. There’s several moments throughout this book where there is meetings of several of the more powerful characters, and the interactions between them were terrifying with electric displays of power that were major points in the story.

In addition, the plot in this story was incredible, with the perfect mix of battle, war, and the lighter moments of preparation and spending time together. There were countless questions I had throughout the series about how they could possibly overcome certain obstacles, or how certain events were going to play out, and I was blown away every time. With such an intense plot, Maas managed to include beautiful relationships and romances, without seeming forced, which is an incredible feat in such a high action novel.

Overall I was largely impressed by this novel, as not many authors can release a trilogy and have each book contain the same excellence as the one before it, and Maas does exactly that. I would recommend this book to older teens or adults who enjoy fantasy, especially fans of Maas’ other novels, but get ready for A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN to blow you away.